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Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!

  • We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
  • The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
  • In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
  • The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.

The British Newspaper Archive

British Newspaper Archive

Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?

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A Right Royal Brood


Published in Genes News on 5 Jul 2013 16:20 : 2 comments : 3328 views

Following last year’s remarkably accurate predictions of the Royal baby’s birth date, the family history website Genes Reunited have researched The Duchess of Cambridge’s family tree in an attempt to uncover how many royal children we might expect.


Long lost twin sisters reunited after 55 years


Published in Genes News on 2 Jul 2013 12:30 : 4 comments : 3484 views

After 55 years sisters Helen and Jenny are finally reunited. To their astonishment they discovered that they were not just sisters, but also twins. For Helen that meant she was actually 14 months older than the age she had spent her whole life believing she was.


Long Lost Family – Series 3 Episode 1 & 2


Published in Genes Reunited Blog on 27 Jun 2013 17:10 : 0 comments : 6626 views

Last week the third series of Long Lost Family returned to our screens and what an emotional start it was! If you have never watched the show before, Long Lost Family traces and reunites divided family members.  The show is hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell and sponsored by Genes Reunited.


Half of Britons do not speak to a family member


Published in Genes News on 25 Jun 2013 11:36 : 2 comments : 10063 views

  • Over 26 million Brits have fallen out with a family member
  • The most common disputes occur between siblings and can last 10 years
  • Main reasons for falling out include money, jealousy and choice of partner


115 year old family recipe winner!


Published in Genes Reunited Blog on 25 Jun 2013 09:12 : 0 comments : 1552 views

And the winning recipe is ... Fillet of Sole a La Pagons (Serves 4)


Researching before 1837 - by our guest blogger David Annal


Published in Genes Reunited Blog on 7 Jun 2013 17:23 : 1 comment : 6695 views

As we follow our roots further and further back into the past we will inevitably reach a point where we lose the support of our safety net and are forced to continue our quest without the familiar, reassuring assistance of birth, marriage and death certificates and census returns.


Saying thank you to our members


Published in Genes News on 7 Jun 2013 16:58 : 5 comments : 6978 views

We are sponsoring TV show Long Lost Family for the third time running this year. The show will start on the 17th June on ITV at 9pm, and run for eight weeks. We are likely to see more activity on the community boards whilst the series is running, in particular the Finding Ancestors and Finding Living Relatives board. For those of you that frequently help other members on this board, we want to make sure that your time is rewarded and we want your views on the best way to do this.


“She sells seashells on the seashore”


Published in Genes News on 21 May 2013 09:04 : 0 comments : 3286 views

Mary Anning was one of the best known scientific minds of the 19th Century, but her work, which inspired Charles Darwin and a host of his colleagues, went largely unrecognised during her own lifetime. Anning's discoveries fundamentally changed scientific thinking and the Royal Society described her achievements as "paving the way for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution". Her work was respected by some of the finest scientific minds and Charles Dickens wrote of her "deserved reputation". But it was not until 2009 that they Royal Society named her as one of the ten most influential women in the history of science.


Why aren't online records more accurate?


Published in Genes Reunited Blog on 10 May 2013 14:34 : 0 comments : 9775 views

By Peter Christian, author of The Genealogist's Internet (Fully revised 5th edition out now from Bloomsbury £16.99) If you've spent any time using online resources to explore your family tree, you will almost certainly have come across information that seems to be wrong. And while you try to think all the ways in which your surname could have become mangled, you undoubtedly ask yourself: why isn't this material more accurate?


Royalty on the River


Published in Genes News on 24 Apr 2013 14:45 : 5 comments : 2529 views